Character Counts

The Sharon Elementary School family has been given the wonderful opportunity to bring the Character Counts Framework to our school. The Character Counts Framework is organized around the Six Pillars of Character. The Six Pillars of Character are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. It is our goal to introduce all six of the pillars by the end of the school year.

Character is what a person is inside. Our character is revealed by how we act when we think no one else is looking. It is how we treat people who we think cannot help or hurt us. A person of character has good ethical values that distinguish right from wrong and a strong commitment to do what is right even when it is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or personally costly. Thomas Paine truly had it correct when he said, "Character is much easier kept than recovered." One of the main ideas of the Character Counts Framework is to empower the students in the school that show positive character. We will recognize these students throughout the year, and some will be awarded with prizes such as signed Jamey Carroll baseball paraphernalia. We all want to do our best to model all six of the character traits every school day.

The founding members of the Sharon Elementary School Character Counts Committee include students, teachers, parents, and local community members. Everyone will have an opportunity to express what they feel are the greatest needs in improving the character of the Sharon family. Besides addressing these needs, the committee will work as a team to go about finding the best remedies for addressing and fixing these concerns.

Everyone is very excited about this framework. We are all very willing to work together to increase the character of the Sharon family.

Character Counts Trait Celebration

• August/September: Trustworthiness
• October/November: Respect
• December/January: Responsibility
• February/March: Fairness
• April: Caring
• May: Citizenship